Occupational Safety and Health Challenges in South Asia Dr. Amin - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• Dr. Amin Al-Wreidat

OSH and Labour Inspection Specialist ILO Decent Work Team for South Asia New Delhi - India

Occupational Safety and Health Challenges in South Asia

International Labour Organization

Occupational Safety and Health Challenges in South Asia Challenges relating to:

• Policy and planning
• Legislation
• Enforcement
• Consultation and engagement of social partners
• Data and information management
• Resources: Human and material
• Awareness of OSH

Ratification of OSH and LI conventions in South Asia

Country

C81 C129 C155 C161 C187

India

• Pakistan
• Sri Lanka
• Bangladesh
• Nepal
• Maldives
• Afghanistan

National policies on labour inspection and OSH

Country LI Policy OSH Policy India No Yes Pakistan Yes No Sri Lanka Draft Draft Bangladesh Draft Yes Nepal No No Maldives Draft No Afghanistan No No

Legislation

• Fragmented laws
• Limited scope and coverage
• No clear standards
• Restricted or unclear powers and authorities of labour

inspectors

• Inadequate and non-deterrent sanctions

Enforcement of existing legislations

• Weak and ineffective labour inspection services:

 Lack of human resources (Number, qualification, gender issues)  Lack of motivation

• Under payment
• Lack of protection
• Absence of career development systems

 Lack of logistics and support services  Under training and poor procedures and practices  Lack of modern tools for proper functioning

• Absence of complementary compliance strategies

Collaboration, Consultation and engagement of social partners

• Lack of workers’ and employers’ awareness of labour

inspection and OSH.

• Social partners not adequately consulted or involved.
• Tripartite bodies on labour inspection and OSH are

mostly absent or ineffective

• No proper cooperation or coordination mechanisms with

the other concerned authorities.

Data and information management

• Mostly computers illiterate officials
• Limited access to computers and internet
• Manual activities and lack of use of modern technology in LI and OSH
• Lack of comprehensive data bases of workplaces liable to inspection

Human resources Lack of

• Occupational safety and health specialists/technicians
• Occupational health practitioners (Physicians and nurses)
• OSH Trainers
• OSH Researchers

Technical resources Lack of

• Specialized laboratories
• Training and research institutions
• Standard setting and monitoring institutions
• Educational and awareness-raising mechanisms and programmes

Other challenges

• Growing informal economy
• Expansion of flexible forms of employment
• Expansion of labour migration
• New risks associated with the use of new technology

Emerging issues

• Building safety and structural integrity
• Fire and electrical safety
• Export processing zones
• Growing labour intensive sectors (e.g. apparel industry)
• Specific highly hazardous sectors (Ship-breaking, brick industry,

manual scavenging)

Consequences

• Occupational hazards remain mostly unidentified in terms of quality and

quantity

• Work-related diseases remain unrecognized and undiagnosed – No

reporting

• Work-related accidents and injuries mostly ignored – Under reporting
• Monitoring and inspection weak and ineffective
• Relevant complaints poorly documented and managed
• Statistics on occupational safety and health absent or inaccurate

As a result… The problem is under estimated and continue to be ignored

Priorities at the national level

• Strengthening national policies on OSH
• Upgrading the national labour legislation
• Strengthening labour inspection and enhancing its effectiveness
• Development and adoption of new compliance strategies
• Building positive and preventative OSH cultures through

awareness-raising campaigns and early age education

• Improvement of data and statistics, including those on work-

related accidents, injuries and diseases.

• Promoting tripartite and bipartite consultation and social

dialogue on OSH

• Establishment of OSH supporting institutions or strengthening

existing ones

Priorities at the Regional level

• Development of a regional strategy on OSH
• Establishment of channels of knowledge and experience sharing among

countries in the region

• Organizing periodic regional meetings on OSH
• Establishment of a comprehensive regional electronic data base on OSH

Thank You for your attention